Vehement
by evilboy
Summary: For nineteen years, Adeline Blackburn called the Cameron farm home-and she intended for things to stay that way-until a Huron raid destroys everything she once knew. But everything happens for a reason.
1. i

" _Hide_."

The word was urgent, something not often heard coming from John Cameron. It sounded foreign on his tongue. The women scattered underneath cots and huddled in corners, quivering as they caged their children in their arms.

Adeline scampered across the floor, weaving in and out of panicked men cocking their guns and lighting torches. Her eyes darted from wall to wall, searching hopelessly for anywhere to find shelter. Heart caught in her throat, she suffocated with the sound of her blood pulsing. A lightheaded sense of panic washed over; she wordlessly snatched up her shawl up from its place on the dusty table and shot out the back door, still in her scanty nightdress.

The crunch of leaves beneath her feet and the wind fluttering past her ears did not go to Adeline's head at all; she was deaf to every sound in the world that was not her heartbeat and the sickening echo of the Huron war call dispersing throughout the woods.

With every glance back at the cabin, her legs grew weaker. She stopped abruptly behind a maple tree, the taste of blood heavy on her tongue, and, as if a thick layer of ice had begun to form in crystals around her, stared helplessly as blood flashed under torchlight, screams from inside the cabin reverberating in her skull. The young cries of anguish cut her insides like shards of glass.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

In her head, Adeline tried to reach out and just do something, anything. But the ice on her skin locked her in place in the bushes. The dizzying violence before her was almost not happening. It was all a dream. If she just woke herself up _maybe this_ _would all end and_ _everything would be_ -

The ice hit her lungs. The snap of a twig mere yards in front of her plucked her out of her own brain and left her open in the air for the taking.

For seven days, Adeline Blackburn did not breathe. She did not blink. She did not eat or drink or sleep-she was frozen.

Only, seven days was twenty seconds. But time does not work the sayme when in the perfect sphere of petrification.

Two shadows, men, no doubt, stood but twenty feet in front of her. She watched the tiny glint in their eyes moving; searching for her in the brush. The growing fire behind them crackled.

Her stomach growled. She prayed silently they couldn't hear.

A low voice spoke a short string of words Adeline could not understand before another crack of twigs released her chest from its own airtight grip. The shadows disintegrated into darkness as the flames grew larger, licking the dried leaves of the trees around them.

Only, to Adeline, everything blurred into a red hot mass, blank spots ripping through the fabric of her consciousness.

And everything disappeared into black.

* * *

Adeline did not remember falling asleep.

The sun burned through her eyelids and she squinted; birds sang around her as if nothing had happened. She spent several minutes on the ground, her head against the dirt, wondering if she had imagined the whole thing. If it really was a dream.

Maybe she had had too much wine and not enough food to level it out. Maybe she'd fallen asleep at dinner with her head on the table while everyone laughed at what a lightweight she was. Maybe she was still sleeping, still tipsy, and couldn't quite pull herself out of it yet; Alexandra would come wake her up soon, offering her a cup of tea and a piece of rye. She always did.

Adeline blinked again. No Alexandra, not this time.

As she pushed up weakly in an attempt to prop herself on her knees, a faint rustling a few yards away slammed her back into the brush. Watching through the undergrowth, she sucked in a deep breath and quietly readjusted in a vain attempt to see. Three people, maybe more. No Indians in sight, but two women, one in pink, one in blue. Someone behind her view of the cabin mumbled. She angled her head and listened harder.

" _What_ did you say?" A redcoat. Adeline could not see who he was speaking to. But another utterance of words and she knew.

"Mirrors...tools...clothes," Uncas said lowly. "Everything inside. They didn't take anything."

She tried to cry out, tried to make him notice, but her voice caught in her throat. Her heartbeat blocked the way. Unable to steady her breathing, she forced out what could be construed as a pained noise.

"Uncas?" It came out as a whimper. She got nothing in return but silence. Wearily but desperately, Adeline crawled up from the ground and panted.

"Uncas," she said louder, her voice quavering. The muscles in her legs switched from stumbling into a full-on sprint and she felt the dust kicking up from under her feet. "Hawkeye!"

Nathaniel and Uncas shot up from the ground, rushing towards the girl as she tripped through burning wood and the corpses of her family.

"Adeline!" Nathaniel shouted, opening his arms for her to jump into. She held him so tight he thought he might suffocate, but he didn't mind. She was alive; traumatized, but alive.

The two young women stared in shock. The redcoat, though on edge, darted his eyes from person to person, trying to figure out what the _hell_ was going on.

"Adeline, why are you still here?" Uncas questioned, pulling her gently off Nathaniel. She wouldn't let go.

"Who did this?" Nathaniel demanded. He carefully pulled her out at arm's length to look her in the eyes. "Adeline, who did this?"

Her expression unchanged and her heart racing, she took in a hard breath and tried not to hurl. She recalled the night once again, her eyes empty.

"Huron," she breathed. She began to feel lightheaded again. " _Huron_..."

Then black.


	2. ii

Adeline nearly jumped out of her skin when she awoke.

The redcoat soldier she had seen at the farm hovered over her, his brown eyes locked on hers.

"She's awake," he announced loudly, prompting a stiff shush from the others. He sighed and folded his arms over his chest as Chingachgook strode to them silently.

"How are you feeling, child?" he whispered, pressing the back of his hand against her forehead as she sat up. Still dazed, Adeline looked around at the unfamiliar forest. The sun was already disappearing behind the horizon.

"Where...what happened?"

"You fainted," he said lowly, reaching to his pouch and retrieving small scraps of deer meat. "Eat. You will need your strength tomorrow."

She nibbled at it feebly. It didn't taste like anything, and it didn't give her any kind of relief. Chingachgook trailed to a nearby tree and sat at the roots, shutting his eyes calmly.

Retreating sunlight shimmered over the leaves, casting its final glow on the forest. She could see Uncas and the girl in pink laying in the grass a few yards away, looking out over the sea of brush ahead of them. Adeline hadn't the slightest idea where Hawkeye was, but she never expected to. Even after years of knowing him, he was still an enigma to her.

With the English soldier to her left, the dark haired woman sat to the right, adjusting the puffy skirt of her dress as she settled into the grass. She was, in every sense of the word, very beautiful. She had the same fair complexion and deep brown hair as Adeline, but with clearer skin and a far more womanly body. She looked like a porcelain doll.

Adeline wondered if the soldier loved her. Who wouldn't?

Adeline, on the other hand, had a ruddy nose, freckled cheeks, and a slender, almost boyish figure. She had expected to feel like a woman by nineteen; most girls were married by then.

Losing herself in thought, she stared over the darkening horizon, chewing on her last piece of meat. She shot a quick glance at the redcoat, her eyes accidentally meeting his before she flushed pink and looked away.

Duncan almost chuckled.

The girl was adorable. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes still sparkled a bright cornflower blue despite her trauma. From the moment he first saw her, he couldn't take his eyes off her. Such a fragile, tender thing-to think she had been through such unspeakable suffering was beyond him.

Cora shuffled in the undergrowth and Adeline watched as she trudged over the trunk of a fallen tree, finally spotting Hawkeye perched quietly in a small ditch a few yards out. She didn't give it too much thought; she was probably enamored by him already.

Adeline shivered. The cool of the night was beginning to set in the air and she realized she had left her shawl back in the forest behind the cabin. She curled up with her knees to her chest, resting her chin on her arms. The soldier cleared his throat.

"Are you cold, miss?" he asked, laying his gun down to turn to her.

"Just a bit," she returned shyly. Adeline watched in the dark as he shrugged off his long coat, wrapping it around her arms as she laid on her side. It was still warm from when he was wearing it.

She stared up at him as he turned back and perched his gun up again. He stared over the ledge intently, but his focus was elsewhere. Duncan willed himself not to take even the slightest glance at her in order to spare himself from embarrassment; he had found himself quite intrigued with the girl.

Maybe it was because he was the one to carry her, unconscious and cold, from the place she had known her entire life. It was sensible to feel guilt to a slight extent-he'd touched her knowing she would never go back home. Maybe that guilt was what caused the feeling in his stomach when their eyes met. It was assuredly not because she was beautiful.

Duncan was sure the guilt would fade soon. He would be able to leave all of this behind-the war, the Indians, the girl. It wouldn't be long before he'd be with Cora in England, married and happy.

It suddenly felt wrong to think that.

This little woman was getting under his skin. He knew nothing about her. They had hardly even met, much less had an actual conversation. And yet, he had some small thought at the back of his head that maybe Cora was not the one for him. She wouldn't even bother sitting next to him for the night, but this frightened young lady who didn't even know his name was curled up at his side.

He tried to push that thought aside. Cora would come around soon enough, he was sure of it.

A faint rustling in the grass brought him back to reality. Immediately on edge, he took aim towards the field ahead and cocked his gun, only to be met with a tender hand to his shoulder. Duncan hesitantly tore his eyes away from the horde of shadows emerging from the trees, looking to the girl at his side. Her blue eyes were blown wide, shimmering in the slivers of moonlight that trickled in through the overhead leaves. Her gaze did not waver until she brought her finger to her lips, pointing behind Duncan's head wordlessly.

Confusion ruling over his nerves, he followed her hand slowly and squinted at the sight-several scaffolds were perched in the trees, hoisting up bodies wrapped in cloth. He had seen something of this nature before; it almost made him want to thank the barbarity of the Indians, because the army of Huron savages began to silently retreat.

Duncan sighed in relief and leaned his gun down once more. He glanced to his right. The girl was sitting up, his military coat wrapped tightly around her arms. He wanted to smile.

"Thank you," he nodded, catching her attention, "Adelaide."

The girl grinned, giggling quietly as she tucked a loose strand of dark hair behind her ear. "It's Adeline."

His face grew hot. She really had affected him. Far too quickly.

"Adeline, then," he repeated. "My name is Duncan."


End file.
